Newly Purchased House is unbearably noisy, How do I protect my investment?

[Martin Zitzelberger]

I recently bought my first home in Thousand Oaks, CA—a huge milestone for me. I’ve lived here my whole life and worked hard to buy a house in my parents' neighborhood, which is the most sought-after area in the city. Having lived nearby for years, I thought I knew the area well.

The house itself is stunning, and the property is beautifully landscaped—truly a dream home in many ways. However, there’s one major issue I overlooked: noise. The house sits near a freeway junction and a busy street, and while my previous rental was also close to the freeway, something about this home's elevation makes the noise unbearablyintrusive. It’s subtle but constant, and I can’t seem to tune it out.

I’m exploring every possible way to mitigate the sound, but the reality is that I can’t change the home’s proximity or line of sight to the roads. I’ve heard from many (non-experts) that I’d need to stay for at least 5-7 years to avoid taking a significant financial hit, but that feels like a waking nightmare given how much this issue affects me.

Financially, renting it out isn’t an easy solution either. My interest rate and purchase price wouldn’t allow for positive cash flow unless I charged an unreasonable rent—or put about $500K toward the principal, which isn't ideal.

I’m a high earner, so I’m weighing my options:

1. Take the loss ($60K-$100K), buy another house, and chalk this up to a hard lesson learned.
2. Refinance, put more money into it, and rent it out long-term—even if it’s not immediately profitable.
3. Invest my money elsewhere and try to make peace with staying here for several years or just move.

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone with experience in real estate, financial strategy, or noise mitigation. Is there a smarter way to approach this? I do not know the best category to put this, so please point me in the right direction